Epping hot air balloon festival celebrates life of local

Lara Bricker

Sunday

Aug 31, 2008 at 2:00 AM

EPPING — Hot air balloons will rise from the hay field behind the Governor Prescott House, locals will take their turn on a mechanical bull and children will climb aboard a hay wagon for rides next Saturday.

EPPING — Hot air balloons will rise from the hay field behind the Governor Prescott House, locals will take their turn on a mechanical bull and children will climb aboard a hay wagon for rides next Saturday.

The eighth annual Highnote Hot Air Balloon, Music and Fireworks Festival, is set to get under way on Sept. 6, and has become an old home day of sorts in Epping since its inaugural run.

For members of the McPhee family of Epping, who organize the festival, it is a way to remember one of their own and keep his spirit alive.

Those taking a ride on a hot air balloon might happen to see four letters mowed into the hay field below them. The letters, lovingly cut out and maintained, say simply "Adam." They are a living memorial to Adam McPhee, an Epping boy born with disabilities whose positive spirit and courageous attitude touched everyone around him during his life. Adam passed away in the fall of 1999, just months after he graduated from Epping High School where he was the first student to enter the school with a special-inclusion program.

For the past eight years, the festival has been organized by the McPhee family as a benefit for the Adam McPhee Memorial Foundation. The memorial foundation has made contributions to the Richie McFarland Children's Center, the University of New Hampshire Therapeutic Riding Program, Harvey Mitchell Memorial Library, and others.

It has given his family a way to remember the young man who had such a profound impact on not only their family, but the entire community.

"To be around Adam just gave you this euphoric, happy feeling," said his cousin Amy, 37, a high school teacher who is helping to organize the festival this year. "He made us all better people. I think our family is an example of his impact."

Amy used to stay with Adam sometimes when Adam's father, Bill, and mother, Erica, were at work. "I feel more like he was my second brother," Amy said. "My closeness with Adam makes me have a huge drive to make this (festival) go off every year without a hitch."

The festival draws people who knew Adam in high school.

"That was a nice thing for us, to feel like the community embraced us and Adam," Amy said. "His impact was quite profound down at the high school."

After Adam passed away, his brother, Cory, and Cory's wife, Julie DiTursi, came up with the idea of the hot air balloon festival.

"We started the festival in honor of Adam to raise money and try to give back to the local community for people with abilities and disabilities," Amy explained. "It means a lot to my Uncle Bill and Erica and it means a lot to me and the rest of the family."

The festival has grown in the past eight years and has raised more than $50,000 since its inception. This year's theme is the "Hey Down Festival" and in the spirit of that theme, children will receive cowboy hats and adults can take a turn at being a cowboy by riding the mechanical bull. The bull will be at the festival from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. "It's just a little different spin," Amy said of the bull.

Musical entertainment will take place throughout the day and includes performances by Oncoming Traffic, a band made up of Epping teenagers; Matt and Howard, and Wayne from Maine.

Food is being provided by Goody Cole's Smokehouse as well as Zampa in Epping. Hot air balloon rides are available by appointment through pilot Bob Russell, although they are contingent on weather conditions that day.

While the festival is a meaningful memorial tribute for the McPhee family, the family hopes it gives other families a chance to really enjoy themselves.

"I hope that a family can come and just relax and have some good food, listen to music, have some entertainment and everybody can feel like they're having a great day," Amy said.

The festival will conclude with a fireworks display, a fitting ending to the day, as Adam loved fireworks.

"He's going to do quite a show," Amy said of the man who sets off the fireworks. "I just want everybody to enjoy themselves, and just think of Adam."

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